Hard Questions

A banker shows up for an important job interview. The interviewer begins, "What is your biggest weakness — "The banker starts to answer.— "sexually?" the interviewer adds.This is Banker's Dozen, an evening of absurdity, ambition and banking, courtesy of James Nelson, improv comic and just-graduated UMKC acting student. Nelson has written and directed 12 quick-moving, bank-related comedy scenes with compatriots from the undergrad theater department. "It's a reaction to the economy," Nelson says, "but a fun one, with left-brain humor that exhibits a lot of styles like absurdist comedy, wordplay and surprising turns from out of nowhere. I like to start with something you can relate to and then twist it."Twist it ... sexually?Nelson has won laughs on stages all over town with the popular Makeshift Militia improv troupe. He considers Banker's Dozen something of an unofficial thesis project. Soon, he's off to Chicago, the promised land for improvisers and comedy writers. You can see him twist it locally 12 last times today at Studio 116 in UMKC's Performing Arts Center (4949 Cherry). The show's run (daily 7:30 p.m. performances that started May 13) wraps up with a 2 p.m. matinee today. Call 816-235-6222 for tickets.
May 13-16, 7:30 p.m.; Fri., May 15, 2 p.m., 2009